Why passports come in 4 standard colours

A passport is the key to getting into other countries. You might
have noticed, maybe while waiting in the passport-control queue,
that these travel documents come in only a few colours.

In general, passports are only red, green, blue, or black,
according to Hrant Boghossian, the vice president of marketing at
the interactive passport database Passport Index.

Passports do, however, come in different shades of each of the
four main colour groups. "Within each colour hue, we see vast
variations," Boghossian told Business Insider via email. "There
are in fact many passport colours."

The process for selecting colours

There are "many possible scenarios" as to why countries opt for a
particular colour, according to Boghossian.

"Members of the European Union use burgundy, while Caricom states
use blue passports," he said.
Caricom, or the Caribbean Community and Common Market,
includes 15 Caribbean countries and dependencies.

There may be geographical and political motives for using certain
colours. "Some could argue that the burgundy red is due to a past
communist history," Boghossian said. He added that blue passports
were generally symbolic of the "new world" — North America, South
America, Oceania, etc.

For some countries, it's about faith. "Most Islamic states use
green passports because of the importance of the colour in their
religion," Boghossian said. Green is thought to have been the
Prophet Muhammad's favourite colour and is also "a symbol of
nature and life,"
according to Slate's Christopher Beam, which makes the colour
"a natural fit for Islam and the Middle East."

Other nations opt for styles that reflect their individual
character and identity.

"Swiss passports are bright red," Boghossian offered as an
example. "The passport of Turkey has changed to burgundy, in hope
to join the EU."

Curiously, he noted that the US had tried numerous colours — red,
green, and now blue.

Passports are also dictated by what's practical. Sometimes the
colour of travel documents comes down to what's available.

"Passport production is a highly controlled process, and only few
companies around the world are doing it," Boghossian said. The
cardstock used for passport covers is "usually supplied by a
third party" and therefore "only comes in certain colour
variations to meet the required standards," he said.

Passport design is entering a new era

Passports haven't changed much in the past decades, Boghossian
says, but that's all beginning to change.

"We are entering an exciting age of countries starting to include
special features to differentiate their passports," he said.

Your browser does not support the video tag.
Mist3rMaul/YouTubeFinland's new passport doubles as a flipbook of a walking moose.

According to Boghossian, the UK has a unique passport variation:
the
Queen's Messenger passport, which is used by a handful of
individuals to deliver important information to British
consulates and embassies around the world.